something good can work
by yamaken
Summary: a collection of loosely connected oneshots set in a school au. 1) Names: Yellow thinks she'll never be in casual terms with Red.


**1\. Names.**

Yellow thinks she'll never be in casual terms with Red.

* * *

Actually, Yellow's never really even called him 'Red' at all; it's always 'Red-san or 'senior Red' because he's two years older than her and she's never talked to him before. Only in her mind does she indulge herself in innocent fantasies where she's comfortable enough with him to just call him Red.

Though, Blue tells her she's being too formal. 'You know, Yellow; Red doesn't really care what you call him,' she tells her one sunny afternoon as they sip diet cokes in a convenience store outside of school. Blue knows a lot about Red because he has been her neighbor since they were babies, and naturally is comfortable enough to call Red _anything_ including 'stupidface dumb butt who spilled chocolate milk all over my white Zara trousers.'

Yellow flushes immediately at the prospect of calling Red anything at all.

'But don't worry, baby girl,' she winks. 'I'm just giving you a heads up in case you still call him 'Red-san at your wedding.'

'Blue! He doesn't even know who I am!'

* * *

Two days later, Yellow realizes that she _will_ most likely still call him 'Red-san at their wedding. You know, _if_ it happens. _Hypothetically_.

She comes to that realization in the middle of history class—the only class she has with Red (because according to Blue, Red flunked it 'like a bazillion times because he _always_ zones out 1 minute into Professor Agatha's lectures'). It was a sticky, dizzyingly humid Tuesday morning when the headmaster made an announcement that some air conditioning units will be under repair, and thus won't be working for the day. Unfortunately, the AC in Yellow's history classroom fell under that category.

Yellow watches Red attempt to cope with both the summer heatwave and Professor Agatha's monotonous discussion on the Meiji Restoration Period. Beads of sweat trickled down Red's nape and Yellow doesn't know whether to feel grossed out by his sweat, or grossed out by her newfound fetish for sweaty soccer captains. She recalls Blue purring her approval upon seeing Green drape a damp towel over his toned body, thanking his ancestors for making it seem like Green was doused with a handful of diamonds instead of _actual_ sweat. Yellow flushes bright Red whenRed's-body-appreciation thoughts start intruding her thought process, which had previously been busy trying to come up with logical reasons why Blue would think Yellow needs a— _hypothetical_ —conjugal union to reach informality with Red. Not like a— _hypothetical_ —marriage would be a bad thing. It really won't.

In the middle of her thoughts, Yellow doesn't recognize Red turning to her in response to the uncomfortable feeling like someone is glaring straight into the back of his head.

'Hey!' Yellow's spine jolts up straight as a ruler as a pair of scarlet eyes ('The most beautiful pair of eyes', Yellow's inner voice sings) meet with her own. Yellow, almost as quickly, scrambles to pick up some confidence because _oh my god he's talking to me_ , but wait a minute his lips are moving again— 'are you okay?'

Yellow suddenly forgets all the English words she has ever uttered throughout her entire life, and for a minute tries to decipher the hidden implications of Red-san uttering an _are you okay_ to a girl he has never met. Could their— _hypothetical_ —marriage really not be _hypothetical_ after all?

Before Yellow could say anything, Professor Agatha's sharp eyes catch Red craning his body to Yellow's table, and with her equally sharp mouth tells Red and Yellow to listen to the lecture. Immediately Yellow sits frozen in her seat, thoughts of actually getting close to Red flying out the window as he dejectedly turns back toward Professor Agatha who has resumed her boring discussion as if she hadn't just broken the heart of a girl who almost got into speaking terms with the object of her attraction for 4 years.

'And now he hates me,' Yellow sighs to Blue a week later at a Starbucks branch near the female dormitories, 'I guess it's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all…'

'Oh get over it,' Blue rolls her eyes for the nth time that week, 'as if Red even remembers it happened.'

'That doesn't make it better!'

* * *

For a while, Yellow couldn't bear calling him 'Red' in her mind. She felt that calling him too casually would just make her start liking him again, thus possibly catalyzing another rollercoaster of unfortunate events Yellow thinks she subjects Red to. So for a few weeks after the history class incident, her brain referred to him as either 'Mr. Red' or 'My Classmate in History Class'. To which Blue likes to respond with reminders that she moves on from boys faster than Yellow moves on from her weird encounters with Red.

'You have to stop obsessing over him,' Blue adds as she and Yellow finish a tub of chocolate ice cream in their shared room, 'he's not even all that great, really.' As if Red doesn't already have an existing mob of girls following him around school even after soccer practice.

'He's cute, but he's a little slow in the head; I think Green would make a better boyfriend, though.' Blue tells her maybe she needs another man.

'I'll let you have Tim, if you want.' Yellow starts choking.

'No, Blue!'

* * *

Just when Yellow thought she was okay never calling him, 'Red' again, he manages to bulldoze back into her life.

'Relax, Yellow,' Blue says under her Quay shades as she and Yellow sit on empty white bleachers under the hot summer sun, 'just remember we're here to watch _our soccer team's_ match against Johto University'—Yellow's eyes dart across the field, looking for a certain ace player who was currently running laps with Green—'and not to ogle over Red's toned calves for three hours.'

Yellow's face starts heating up at the sudden influx of 'Red's-body-appreciation' thoughts, making her forget she ever even considered moving on from him. Blue throws Yellow a knowing look as she watches the tomato-faced blonde frantically start to look _anywhere_ except the patch of grass upon which Red was currently doing leg stretches.

'If you want to ogle, at least tell me so we can do it together. By the way, Green looks incredibly hot in tight shorts.'

* * *

At the end of the match, Blue drags Yellow down to the field to congratulate Red and the team for unsurprisingly winning against Johto's newbie ace, Gold. Yellow's heart cartwheels as she tries to piece up the courage to at least look Red in the eye. She wants to tell Blue she needs like a week to come up with a coherent sentence to greet Red with; but some things just happen when you least expect them.

Green's face morphs into a mix of joy and annoyance as he and Red are greeted by a loud CONGRAAAAAAATULATIONS and a pair of dainty arms pulling both of them into a tight embrace. Yellow stands by the benches as she watches Blue tackle Green and Red into the ground, all three of them with smiles painted on their faces, and Yellow thinks it's the most heartwarming thing she has ever seen.

A few moments later, Yellow is greeted by the sight of Red jogging towards her with a bright toothy grin plastered on his boyish face. Her palms start sweating profusely, and her heart leaps out of her chest because— _oh my god he saw me whats he going to do oh my god_. Red slows down to a stop in front of her and she notes how tall he is now that they're finally standing in front of each other for the first time.

'C-congratulations,' Yellow spits out, sweaty hands choosing the worst time to start shaking. She refuses to look at him in the eye and contents herself with appreciating the finely detailed Kanto University logo printed into Red's sweaty jersey. She could almost feel the weight of Blue's snickering a few feet behind them.

'You're in history with me, aren't you?' Red grins sheepishly, his hand scratching the back of his head, 'man, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble that one time. I think Prof Agatha hates me.' He says that as if it was the most casual thing in the world, and sure enough, Yellow forgets she spent weeks under the paranoia that Red would never ever want to talk to her again.

'It's okay,' Yellow jolts up straight 'I don't really mind,' She looks up a little to catch a wave of relief spread across Red's previously stern expression. At this point, Yellow is pretty sure her ears were about to combust from the combined heat of the summer sun, and the feeling that _senpai actually noticed me oh my god_.

'Great! Thanks, Yellow!' Red's face lights up with a grin, his dark hair damp from sweat and clinging onto his chiseled face bronzed by months of running under the sun. Then and there, Yellow was about to ask someone to call an ambulance and explain to the doctors how she was suffering cardiac arrest from hearing her name just casually rolling out of Red's lips as if he's known her for the longest time. 'Anyway, talk to you later Yellow!'

'See you, Red-san!' She manages a small robotic wave as Red turns to a group of gruff males shouting his name. But before he jogs off he shuffles her head, sending shivers around her nape and down her spine. Yellow stands frozen in spot.

'Hey now,' he grins again, 'just call me Red.'

As she watches Red retreat back to his team, Yellow swears she hears wedding bells ringing.

* * *

 **a/n** : hi friends! this fic is crossposted in AOO. im not yet quite sure what to do with this, but im planning a collection of school au oneshots of the dex holders. ill try hiiihii. pls stay tuned!


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